At first we thought Reuters had been punk'd in its article titled "EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap" which disclosed the latest leaked proposal by the European Commission, but after several hours without a retraction, we realized that the story is sadly true. Sadly, because everything that we warned about in "There May Be Only Painful Ways Out Of The Crisis" back in September of 2011, and everything that the depositors and citizens of Cyprus had to live through, seems on the verge of going continental. In a nutshell, and in Reuters' own words, "the savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says." What is left unsaid is that the "usage" will be on a purely involuntary basis, at the discretion of the "union", and can thus best be described as confiscation.

The source of this stunner is a document seen be Reuters, which describes how the EU is looking for ways to "wean" the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment. So as Europe finally admits that the ECB has failed to unclog its broken monetary pipelines for the past five years - something we highlight every month (most recently in No Waking From Draghi's Monetary Nightmare: Eurozone Credit Creation Tumbles To New All Time Low), the commissions report finally admits that "the economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment."

The solution? "The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said."

Mobilize, once again, is a more palatable word than, say, confiscate.

And yet this is precisely what Europe is contemplating:

Banks have complained they are hindered from lending to the economy by post-crisis rules forcing them to hold much larger safety cushions of capital and liquidity.

The document said the "appropriateness" of the EU capital and liquidity rules for long-term financing will be reviewed over the next two years, a process likely to be scrutinized in the United States and elsewhere to head off any risk of EU banks gaining an unfair advantage.

But wait: there's more!

Inspired by the recently introduced "no risk, guaranteed return" collectivized savings instrument in the US better known as MyRA, Europe will also complete a study by the end of this year on the feasibility of introducing an EU savings account, open to individuals whose funds could be pooled and invested in small companies.

Because when corporations refuse to invest money in Capex, who will invest? Why you, dear Europeans. Whether you like it or not.

But wait, there is still more!

Additionally, Europe is seeking to restore the primary reason why Europe's banks are as insolvent as they are: securitizations, which the persuasive salesmen and sexy saleswomen of Goldman et al sold to idiot European bankers, who in turn invested the money or widows and orphans only to see all of it disappear.

It is also seeking to revive the securitization market, which pools loans like mortgages into bonds that banks can sell to raise funding for themselves or companies. The market was tarnished by the financial crisis when bonds linked to U.S. home loans began defaulting in 2007, sparking the broader global markets meltdown over the ensuing two years.

The document says the Commission will "take into account possible future increases in the liquidity of a number of securitization products" when it comes to finalizing a new rule on what assets banks can place in their new liquidity buffers. This signals a possible loosening of the definition of eligible assets from the bloc's banking watchdog.

Because there is nothing quite like securitizing feta cheese-backed securities and selling it to a whole new batch of widows and orphans.

And topping it all off is a proposal to address a global change in accounting principles that will make sure that an accurate representation of any bank's balance sheet becomes a distant memory:

More controversially, the Commission will consider whether the use of fair value or pricing assets at the going rate in a new globally agreed accounting rule "is appropriate, in particular regarding long-term investing business models".

To summarize: forced savings "mobilization", the introduction of a collective and involuntary CapEx funding "savings" account, the return and expansion of securitization, and finally, tying it all together, is a change to accounting rules that will make the entire inevitable catastrophe smells like roses until it all comes crashing down.

So, aside from all this, Europe is "fixed."

The only remaining question is: why leak this now? Perhaps it's simply because the reallocation of "cash on the savings account sidelines" in the aftermath of the Cyprus deposit confiscation, into risk assets was not foreceful enough? What better way to give it a much needed boost than to leak that everyone's cash savings are suddenly fair game in Europe's next great wealth redistribution strategy.

No, I don't. Ayn Rand fanboys are very largely people who haven't read any other philosophy. That's neither ad hominem nor untrue.

People who studied economics or political science come across it and think they've gotten a seminar in western philosophy. Objectivists and Randbots are particularly tedious because they are in essence religious zealots - unaware of much outside the one sacred text they believe is Truth.

Many thinkers for thousands of years have addressed the topics Rand has. One of the benefits of studying philosophy, or at least reading about different philosophers (history of and summary books are eminently more readable and forgivable shortcuts to, say, trudging through Being and Time) is having a lot of ideas regarding a topic with which to compare other ideas. Not smarter but wiser. A broader intellectual repertoire from which to draw.

What I'm telling you is Rand's most vocal and tedious and zealous fans tend to be people who read fuckall else.

I'm familiar with Rand's thinking already, hence I'm not sitting through half an hour of her philosophizing; but are you familiar with, as recent example, Chris Hitchens? Who ironically turns up in the related videos to your link, but wasn't a fan of Rand's pharasaical worldview?

As always, it's your choice. But I've already wasted too much time on this.

For fuck's sake, at least read "The Ego and Its Own" if you cherish this sort of ontological solipsism in your thought. At very least it will put another god in heaven for you and maybe remove a little of the power of the Randian cult from your psyche.

As to a more scientific debunking of the Randian theory of mind/rationality, which is largely cribbed from Descartes, not Aristotle {have you read Aristotle?} off the top - check out "Descartes' Error" by Demasio. Easy, fun read. You might also check out stuff by Oliver Sacks to get a better sense of how fragile "rationality" is.

The answer is pretty simple. Eliminate the Central banks, fractional reserve banking, and leave the money creation to the Treasuries. Back the currencies with each nation's productivity. Set exchange rates between all currencies and adjust them periodically using a formula of productivity versus currency outstanding.

To start with each country simply pays off what is owed with newly printed Treasury currency, with the exception that central bank owned debt just gets cancelled. Pay off all consumer debt as well. Once fractional reserve banking is eliminated, the economy will need a huge infusion of cash, and these actions will provide it. It will also push investors to apply that cash into productive endeavors.

With the elimination of the debt and the associated interest, the governments would be running surpluses at the current levels of taxation. A choice could be made to eliminate much of that taxation and just have them print as is needed. If we eliminated taxation we would need strict limits on currency growth instituted. Force any spending above a certian point to be appoved by national referendum and a tax to keep balances under control and talso o keep us from making bad spending decisions.

Also open a national bank to perform lending functions but also let private bankers lend half their deposits as well. Social security and the pension programs could also take over some of the future lending burden and earn a return not dependent on taxation.

Bottom line is that we cannot let banks be money creators or control exchange rates between currencies. We can not force our countries into debt in order to provide the constantly needed ongoing currency expansion. We need to end it swiftly and start getting on with a saner system.

Have craft guilds who print their own money and specialise their own entrepreneurs amongst themselves via internal cooperation (or competition) based on guild rules.

That was the Dutch method of the middle ages but the money came from Italian banks/merchants and the wool from England.

Now we have the Internet and worldwide entrepreneurial angels of innovation (via venture funds) and maybe, maybe, encrypted money based on products promoted by the guilds gone international.

This scheme will hit the asymptote when the International or national guild goes protectionist or -- Oligarchy controlled by a few big boys. Thats history. We keep going to oligarchy plays as greed dominates "general good" principles.

Its a bitch to walk away from a centralised form of government. Patch works never work for long.

In a tangential news item, German manufacturer Bosch announces a new premier gas oven. Company spokesman Terd Nurdlinger gave details regarding the high end appliance. "We are pleased to say that this oven exemplifies our dedication to providing products to enhance customers' cooking experience. These new ovens have state-of-art electronic controls and tunable gas jetting. The Reich model comfortably sleeps a family of 4".

Did the author of this article see the original "document" or only responding to the short (edited) interpretation by a Reuters correspondent ? Certainly there is reason for concern within that which is rreported, but I would like to read the original "document" before i made a conclusion from secondhand information and concluded with the word "confiscate" .

".....feasibility of introducing an EU savings account, open to individuals whose funds could be pooled and invested in small companies."

Those would be the same companies that have about a 1 in 10 chance of making enough profit (in order to pay for the legion of tarriffs, licences, permits, fees and regulatory compliance measures that they have to follow) to avoid going bankrupt in their first 2 years, would they?

Same ones?

Thought so!

When government gets out of the way and lets new business start-ups actually have a realistic chance of success, then maybe I'd consider investing in a fund to help them out. Once start-ups are freed of all the bullshit, there's a pretty good chance you'd get a decent return on such an investment. Lot of bright people out there, with good business ideas, given the opportunity.

But since it's obviously far more profitable (for the 'elite', anyway, especially in the short term) to mire a small business in unpayable debts, force them to go bankrupt and walk away with their assets, ideas and intellectual property pretty much for free - whilst also stealing one hundred percent of the money any sucker was stoopid enough to put in the 'EU savings fund' - THEN sell the aforementioned assets, ideas and IP to your corporate buddies for pennies on the dollar..... I won't hold my breath!

Well lets hope they start the confiscation with the oligarchs, the financial sharks.

Mathematics say to fill the socialised "debt" hole created on the collective balance sheets of nations there is ONLY ONE WAY TO DO IT : Go after those who have the money in their private and corporate accounts.

NO OTHER WAY as its the Math, stupid !

About time we enforced "debt jubilee" on these wankers.

This apexed financial redistribution based on "market" forces of TBTF/ US crony Oligarchy capitalism, under the Reaganista-Thatcherist gun over thirty years, is a sinister farce of unimaginable dimensions.

They may very well try to do that but just like in Cyprus, the oligarchs will be forewarned about a week before it is announced, giving them ample time to move their cash beyond the reach of the government thieves. The tax havens will welcome it with open arms.

"A picture illustration taken with the multiple exposure function of the camera shows a one Euro coin and a map of Europe, January 9, 2013." Thank heavens, and here I thought at first that the "Great Euro From Space" as about to squash most of europe. Note to Reuters, learn about potatoeslop.

This will end the banking system as we know it. Even if the public knows nothing about the fragility of the banking system, once they confiscate, the public won't trust banks again for another 100 years. I see a Greek like, decentralized. cash-and-carry future for the whole world.

If collect a pension you have no choice now do you. Your pension is automatically in the system whether you like it or not. They aren't going after the private savings (not yet anyways and not below the depositor's insurance limit either since they learned their lesson over that one with Cyprus). Anything not guaranteed private wise is going to be fair game which is exactly what one would expect as the system goes through it's death throes desperately trying get one more gasp of air before expiring.

Anyone sponging off the EU collecting a pension state or otherwise is going to forced to bail in the EU first which is actually how it should be. The plebs are going to get fucked no matter what but they benefit the least so as such should be lower on the food chain to bail in.

Bail out assumes remove from the system, Bail in means the opposite. If it is layered you bail in from next layer first then so on and so forth.

The banking system as we know it ended in 2008. They've just been printing up a shitload of fiat since then to mask that fact. Its been over for 6 years now, the smartest people knew it back then, and its just now starting to become obvious to the next level of aware people. The sheep know something isn't quite right but they have yet to figure it out.

The problem is that the elites and their fraudulent bankster cronies have no idea how to deal with the aftermath of a debt crises that they created. It's been clear to me for a long while that the only people with any money left are savers and pension investors etc. IE: the ordinary man in the street trying to look after his future well being.

This is the money the criminal elites are now focussed on stealing without realising that it will exacerbate the crises and likely cause further economic collapse, leading to civil unrest and probably war to divert attention away from multiple domestic crises.

The evidence that political elites are the cause of problems, not the solution could not be clearer.

Its time to take the tax hit and cash out of your 401K, your IRA, ETrade account, etc, and buy hard assets that are not an entry in a computer. Anything stored on a flashdrive or hard disk will be taken with a few keystrokes.

Coveting and stealing on a societal scale. This is a recipe for capital flight unprecedented in human history. The consequences will be calamitous. I know that inspiration source. It is NOT a divine one!

And rest assured that this mentality is coming to America also! In fact, it's already here! Negative interest rates, endorsed by Janet Yellen, reflect the same disregard for the property of others!

Obama wants to do the same thing with MyRA. And just like he nationalized student loans his next step will be to do the same with 401K's and IRA's, "investing" those funds in T-Bills, aka confiscation.

Obama doesn't have the Constitutional authority to implement law that requires an act of Congress, but based on the unConstitutional acts he has already taken it's possible. Let him try it, and start a real revolution to run him and his sociopathic elitist friends out of the country.

Obama wants to do the same thing with MyRA. And just like he nationalized student loans his next step will be to do the same with 401K's and IRA's, "investing" those funds in T-Bills, aka confiscation.

I had a 79 year old friend from Switzerland tell me that on January 2nd of this year he got a notice from the Swiss government concerning his pension. They told him that they had "overpaid" him for the past 19 years and would be deducting 40% of his pension to "correct" this mistake.

They're already doing that here. They call it "means testing" for Medicare and deduct premiums from your social security check based on it. When that doesn't yield enough, they'll eventually start saddling retirees with Medicare deductibles. The number of regulatory ways that a theft-minded federal government can get to your assets is almost unlimited.

Should they decide to go after retirement savings. I suspect even the 1% will be happy to buy a few guillotines to lynch the .1%.

Nothing short of banker and politician lynchings will ever stop any of this.

NOTHING!

The great civil war of the citizens against governments is going to be bloody and violent as hell. The longer we the people sit on our asses and take it, the worse it's going to get.

Currently the amount of debt being piled on worldwide basically equates to at least 50% slavery. In the US it's quickly approaching 100%. At some point there will be nothing left to take. It will be at that point that manditory rationing, work allocations and other EMERGENCY measures will be put in force.

This isn't just an EU problem but a worldwide problem and there will be no place on this planet anyone will be able to successfully survive and hide. There is no NEW frontier to run to this time.

This is where I can see the benefit of having savings in real assets that you have physical possession of. The socialist looters will happily nationalize your IRA, blow it on more welfare, and at the same time look down their noses at you and lecture you about your white privilege. But have the IRS go to old people's houses with guns and take your gold coins, and arrest you for resisting? That just looks bad on Youtube. Sure, they'll issue another Executive Order 6102, but there are people whom they enforce it on and people they'll leave alone, they have to keep up appearances.

There are simple solutions, though not everybody is capable of making the proper moves.

Cases in point:

1. Negotiated a lease on 2 acres of farmland for $500. Lady said cash, in advance, no checks. No problemo, says I. Always happy to exchange non-traceable fiat bucks for income producing acreage.

2. Another lady had 2 of her 9 acres available for sale. Wanted $5K down and $18 total. Told her, cash lease, renewable, you keep the property. Also, since I want to put a camper there, which I could not according to zoning laws if I purchased the land (McMansions only, ya know), it's better for me, because the lady is allowed to have one camper on her property. Since mine will be the only one, this works, but it begs the larger question:

Aren't there too many laws and regulations standing in the way of commerce? Basically, the lady with the 2 acres for sale had to raise the price so high because the costs of redrawing the tax map lines (survey, etc.) were expensive (in the $3-4K range), and, of course, there's the capital gains taxes on that sale, with no "wash" because she's not buying anything else.

Bottom line, both of these property owners see the value in undercutting the "middlemen" those being the town, county, state, feds, who just want a cut of any transaction, in favor of a simple agreement - almost a handshake - between rational people.

These ladies will get even more than they bargained for because I am a pretty decent vegetable farmer and will give them some of the produce at no cost, just the way I am, and the way to keep "partners" happy. The government and the bankers get NOTHING. As it should be.

Also, check your city - if you live near or in a good-sized one with many vacant properties and empty lots. Here in Rochester, NY, they have a garden lot program, where the city allows you an 8-month lease on the land at NO COST, provided you maintain it, grow flowers or food crops and don't become a nuisance. I opted for three adjacent lots (total of 150 x130) in a fairly commercial section of the city (kind of out of the slum). Anyhow, waiting on approval, but I know I'll be spending a good deal of money on fences this spring and summer - to keep the deer, rabbits and other critters out in my country locales, and the inner city "foodies" (read: FSA) in the city. May be getting a big dog or two, also.

Best bets going forward, either own enough land to produce almost all of your own food, or lease some at cash prices. Anything you have left over, buy useful tools, vehicles, gold, silver, bullets. You know the drill.

A brilliant post, Free, thank you, and it gave me some ideas. We've recently purchased two adjoining 5-acre plots here in NE TX, and me and my son built bult a 1600 sq ft house on the first five acres. The first 5 cost $9800. The second we had to give $13,500 for it (seller wanted $18,500, told him he was nuts). The house, paid for as we went with cash, cost us around $37,000 total, which included $2400 just to have power lines run to it, and septic and well costs, etc. We now own a free and clear house. We're allowed two resideces per lot, so we will build four total, one for each of our kids and their families.

We're trying to buy the 10 acres (two 5-acre lots) directly behind us, which will give us a nice, sqaure 20-acre block, but we're about out of cash for now. I like your leasing idea. I just may try it for the additional land.

Also, I recently read about a man who leased right-of-ways from utility companies and muni's. Areas such as the small buffer strips between major county roads and where property lines start (under power lines, for example). He makes a very good living farming those strips, and it even gives him an area to set up road-side prduce stands right next to his mini-fields. He pays a very paltry sum for the land because he is maintaing it for them. Sometimes as little as $150-$200 per yr. The land goes unused, and needs chem spraying for weed control, etc., so he's doing them a favor and making bank at the same time.

I still cannot see the confiscation of IRAs and 401Ks as practical. What happens to all the companies that the IRAs and 401Ks were invested in? How would that work? It would be easier for the FED to just print.

How an economic bloc can essentially openly (1) confiscate savings in one of its member countries and (2) admit to the rest of the world that they are going to do it again without crashing their currency and losing all credibility on the world stage is beyond me.

It's quite clear that anyone with a large amount of money sitting in a bank account should very seriously think about taking it out as currency. Otherwise it will simply vanish and be turned into "preferred stock" in the institution.

if you ADD counter party risk to bitcoin by storing your coins under some elses control you are definitely engaging in 'unsafe money'. Try keeping your bitcoins in offline or cold storage. No counter party risk then. Just physical security issues like Au or Ag.

Or even offline, in a 'brain wallet' ... not even physical security issues then ... the only risk then is your own memory ... which is also dubious in the long run :-)

Why don't they just come out and say "We own it all and we will give you what we feel you need"? Not just in Europe either. No thanks MyRA. Let's get shit rolling for fucks sakes. We have been bitching about these assholes for years and I'm not getting any younger here. I know we don't want to be the ones to start it but something has to give here pretty soon don't you think?

As I have said in the past...don't you love the politician speak. Anyway, I see this as a slow train wreck politically, socially and economically. I's all unraveling. And speeding up right at the end. Kinda like the new movie effects were it go's super slo-mo and then speeds up. I suspect that will be the time of great change. When the old crumbles you will see a structure that has already been put into place like, health care, militarization of the police, loss of economic freedom etc.. They just turn the key at that point. As that time nears and comes to pass the best chance we have is to snatch the keys away before they can turn the switch. They need the old to crumble and this will be the opportunity for real truth. Real freedom. That will be their weakest moments. If you're ready to "roll" now you'll become a terrorist in the eyes of the dumb masses. It's already happening. Plus uncle erNSA will know before it starts. This must be handled politically and socially. From a chess perspective we are in check very close to mate. Just my 2 cents.

And in the UK, by far the most popular cliche used by the political elites and their armies of 'jobs-for-the-boys' apparatchiks when they screw something up beyond belief and waste billions of taxpayers money:

"lessons will be learned".

Sadly, they NEVER learn any lessons because the consequences are invariably caused directly by policy.

This cliche is in full flow (pun) at the moment after widespread flooding in the West of England due to the Environmental Agency policy of not building flood defences or carrying out river dredging.

Great posts ZH members. Keep up the great work! Some days, I feel like a needle in a haystack. Great job tonight!! Whether you knew for years or just catching on. This has been the uphill battle regarding the Banking establishment creating the Venus Project. I have no desire to live in a government controlled utopia environment.

And may I add I have no desire to live in a neo-feudal, neo-liberal, neo-con environment run by Oligarchs who consider people as expendable and dronable variables on their global, dystopian chessboards; all apexed towards personal monetary gains using monopoly controlled markets to pump the fruit of labour out of each wretched soul on the planet.

Government is their tinsel screen of legal respectability to hang the chad and proclaim Patriot Act as the solution to world wide terrorism of their own concoction.

Know reality from fiction to claim the legacy of all those who died for freedom on earth.